For Want of a Toad
by Palladias
Summary: Three Things that didn't happen to... challenge. Three double drabbles of changing something in Neville's life. (NLHG)


Disclaimer: Not my characters.  
A/N: This is a response to Fiction Alley's Three Things that Didn't Happen to…. Challenge. You must write three double drabbles about three changes in canon for a character. One drabble must be set on Leap Day.   
  


**For Want of a Toad**

  
  
"You must be Longbottom," a drawling voice declared. Neville turned away from the window. Three boys stood in his compartment door. One moved forward with the light glinting off his white-blond hair. "Don't have any friends, Longbottom? Sitting all alone dreaming of your parents?"   
  
Neville jumped up, but the other two boys pushed him back. The two oafs focused entirely on him and paid no attention to the silhouette in the door. It opened and a tall girl stood there with a book tucked under her arm.   
  
"Is this compartment ta…" she took in the tableau. Her eyebrows contracted and Neville was violently reminded of his gran. Her voice was ice-cold, "Do I need to fetch a prefect to sort this out? Do you wish to lose house points before you arrive at Hogwarts?" she turned to the intruders. "Or were you leaving?"   
  
The silver-haired boy shot her a look of loathing and swept out, deciding not to antagonize the stern girl. Neville was shocked to see her drop her haughty bearing and stick her tongue out at the retreating backs. "I'm Hermione Granger," she said.   
  
"I'm Neville Longbottom and this is Trevor… I've lost him again." He saw her look of confusion and amended, "my toad. He must have hopped out of the door."   
  
"We'll just go to all the other compartments, then and check. We're the second to last car, so you'll start moving up to the front of the train, and I'll do the back. When I get to the end, I'll find you and we'll finish. Let's go."   
  
Hermione moved quickly through the back of the train and soon caught up with Neville. He had his head in a compartment, so she moved to check the opposite compartment. She could see two boys through the door, one with red hair and one with dark hair. She raised her hand to knock, but Neville tapped her on the shoulder.   
  
"I already checked that compartment."   
  
She nodded and the two first years turned and continued up the train.   
  
  
  


~*~*~*~

  
  
  
  
Flashing in the light of an open window, a sickle spun in the air. A worried boy watched it arc, relying on the flip of a coin to stiffen his resolve. In millions of realities the coin fell neatly with tails pointing up. Here, however, a student walked by and the coin wobbled in the air and fell with the head up.   
  
The boy swallowed hard. He had hoped for tails. He did not want to ask her, did not want to see pity, or worse, condescension in her eyes. Still, it couldn't do any serious harm. No one would see her decline, for she also was often alone. He put down his toad and walked quietly to the library.   
  
The library was quiet when he entered and spotted her. She was bent over an ancient tome with her hair a ragged nimbus behind her. She looked up when he whispered her name and the question he hardly dared give voice. She started and he asked again. She did not giggle or laugh but answered seriously with a slight blush of happiness.   
  
He danced out of the library singing a hello to Ginny and running into a powerfully built boy. He looked up into another nervous face. Bushy eyebrows drew together as the newcomer asked, "Haff you seen Hermyown?"   
  
"Sure, Viktor," Neville replied. "She's at the far table."   
  
"Thank you." Viktor Krum squared his shoulders and walked into the library.   
  
  
  


~*~*~*~

  
  
  
  
For a Muggleborn, Hermione Granger knew a great deal about wizarding customs. She spent time ferreting out what all pureblood understood: the origins of every holiday. When she awoke on February the twenty-ninth of the year 2080, her first thought was not of this once-every-four-years holiday. If you had asked her, she would have told you, though, that leap days were believed to be a day of crossing-places. On this day, witches and wizards might freely speak the truth of their hearts. It was rumoured that unicorns and centaurs would come out of the woods and live happily with humans. S.P.E.W. sponsored an elf freedom day every four years, liberating house elves, and claiming leap years could magically separate ill-treated house elves from their owners. Young, giddy girls believed they could see the face of their beloveds on this day. Hermione knew this last to be true. She turned over to see the round face she loved so well. He stirred and woke. "Happy twenty-fifth birthday, Neville," she murmured. 


End file.
